First I have to say that in the interest of full disclosure, I did receive this book for free for playing a promotional game the author was running on her Facebook page. That being said, whether or not I pay for a book, does not in any way reflect on how well a book was written, the author's ability to capture my attention, or the entertainment value of said literature.
When I first picked up this book, there was little to go by for what the book was about. I had not yet read the Goodreads synopsis on the book's page and had only the teasers and snippets the Author had posted regarding her work along with the teaser on the back about "Stella". I was unsure this was going to be my "thing" but I'm pretty open minded when it comes to books and will attempt to read pretty much anything.
I have to say that I am VERY glad that I did go all in for this one. As I had said above, the cover of the book cleverly gave nothing away and I'm not entirely sure that was unintentional. The book is about secrets after all.
I was, at first, slow to get into it. That was all part of the setup. We first meet Tom and Steph the two recurring figures in the overall story that's being told. They are discussing, among other things, the idea that everyone has some sort of secret that they hide from their nearest and dearest for fear of rejection, ridicule, and whatever type of judgement they may receive. Steph expresses that she thinks people would be willing to tell their deepest secrets to a complete stranger if for nothing than to get it off their chest and experience a little relief from the burden they carry. The idea is, that if the person you tell a secret to doesn't really know who you are, then why does it matter what they think or if they judge you?
Steph decides to set up a social experiment to prove her point. She makes up sign up sheets with time slots for two days a week to have these "confessions" at a back corner table in Tom's coffee shop. From there, the book is split into the individual confessors and each one is different from the last.
After reading the first confession, I was left somewhat perplexed. I didn't feel that the secret that was revealed was either deep or dark. I guess I was expecting racy, romantic, exciting and what have you. But then I really took some time to think about it. Each one of these people(characters/confessors) were revealing something of themselves that they've locked away from the entire world to this perfect stranger at the back of a coffee shop. It didn't matter if the secret met my standards of dark and racy, it mattered to the individual divulging the intimate details of their person. I understood at that point my perspective needed tuning before I could continue with the rest of the stories.
Once I was able to get into the right mind frame for the confessions and see them for what the author was trying to express them as, the book was incredibly enjoyable. All of the people we meet are so real and relatable. They really gave me pause to wonder if these are in anyway real people the author has encountered with obvious identifying features changed. It was difficult to distinguish these confessions as fiction vs. non-fiction.
In all, this book was a hoot and I am looking forward to the followup that is promised in the remaining pages of the book. I would definitely recommend this to everyone. It is entertaining in a way that no matter what genre you enjoy, this would keep you turning pages.